Quotable Country – 10/04/10 Edition

October 4, 2010 by C.M. Wilcox

Click the bullet after each quote to visit the original source.

I never left country music; it’s a big misconception that I did. The kind of country music on [my upcoming covers] album is what I love. If this was what was still being played on the radio, I would never stop making these kinds of songs. ●– – LeAnn Rimes denies going pop, but doubts the appeal of more straight-ahead country.

This is the thing: [there’s a] silver lining. The bad thing is there were a lot of guitars lost. But there were also a lot of banjos lost! There’s always a silver lining! ●– – Brad Paisley on the Nashville flood.

In 1976, we were at a festival in Martinsville, Va., and Bill [Monroe] didn’t have a banjo player. Our banjo player, Courtney Johnson, was standing with Bill’s fiddler, Kenny Baker, and Monroe walks up. To Bill, in front of Courtney, Kenny says, ‘Courtney’s a good banjo player. Let’s get him to play with us.’ Bill said, ‘No sir.’ Kenny said, ‘Courtney’s a good banjo man.’ ‘No sir, I won’t have it.’ Kenny was putting him on the spot. The third time he asked, Bill said to Courtney, ‘What is it you call that music you play?’ Courtney said, ‘Newgrass.’ Bill said, ‘Yes, I hate that.’ That was the end of the conversation. ●– – Sam Bush to Peter Cooper, on Bill Monroe’s love of newgrass.

Carrie is know to be the vocalist of any genre! Do you really think that Carrie would have to spend years and years like other people do with these un written rules of paying your dues bs?! Carrie was born to sing! She is soo damm good volcally, it would take weeks not years and years. If you SUCK, yeah, it will take you years for someone to notice you. Carrie is the most succesful Idol. Most others have flopped. ●– – Fan responds to a slightly critical review of a Carrie Underwood concert.

My advice for young girls is the same as my advice for young boys. Practice. Practice hard. And, I don’t think it’s healthy to start playing an instrument because you want to be a [professional] musician. I think you need to play an instrument because you love the instrument. If it leads to a career, then that’s great, but, I think the motivation has to be purer. The focus has to be the art and not the profession. You have to love music more than you love being a musician. ●– – Grascals banjoist Kristin Scott Benson, from a fine profile in Bluegrass Unlimited.

Every country artist I know, as rock as they may sound a lot of times, have a strong love and connection with country music. Their current presentation of it may not sound like it has anything to do with Conway Twitty or Ernest Tubb or whomever, but it’s in there somewhere; it’s in the mix. ●– – Keith Urban.

They are coming here, so I think it is necessary they get along with us. Why do we have to make special changes for them? They knocked the [World Trade Center] towers down. The Italians didn’t knock the buildings down. The Mexicans didn’t do that. Why should [Muslims] be treated well when they did that to us? [Building the mosque near Ground Zero] is not the right thing to do. People lost their lives there and they were murdered by Islamic people. These people should have to pay for it forever. They have done something that is unforgivable. If I’m a racist because I don’t think it’s right to [build the mosque], then so be it. I find it unacceptable what they are proposing. ●– – Merle Haggard on the Muslims, all of whom were apparently responsible for 9/11.

We dream really big. If you come to us asking to do a song for a movie, we’ll say, ‘Sure, can we score the whole thing?’ ‘You guys want to sing a song on this awards show?’ ‘Sure, can we host it, too?’ So when we think about this record and whether it could play on pop radio, we think it could. Our message is simple: We’re your tribe. You’re welcome here. Come on in. ●– – Kristian Bush is your tribe. Not mine, certainly, but yours.

‘Back in the old days, I couldn’t say this, but I can say it now … My two biggest influences musically were Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys and Little Richard.’ ●– – Buck Owens, as quoted by Dave Alvin.

So do the brothers, who grew up playing country, bluegrass and gospel but are expanding into rock and pop. They write their own songs.
“We’re still discovering new sounds,” said [Sons of Sylvia’s Ashley] Clark, who sings and plays fiddle, mandolin and guitar. “The sound we play is kind of bluegrass. We want to make it more rock or something. We’re kind of figuring out ways to make a mandolin sound like an electric guitar.” ●– – See, to me, there’s something cool about mandolins just sounding like mandolins. Different strokes…

OAK RIDGE BOY “JOE BONSALL” RELEASES NEW BOOK– – Title of a PR email. Not sure what those quotation marks are intended to convey.

I guess Eric Church is no longer my most hated country singer. Now its Merle Haggard.

Religious bigotry is unacceptable. And Haggard’s comment is blatantly bigoted. Its also incredibly stupid. And Merle being a good singer (well until he lost his voice) doesn’t make up for it. Its a shame too because in songs like “Irma Jackson” Haggard sang about the costs of bigotry. Now, it seems like Haggard is becoming what he once opposed eloquently in song: a detestable bigot.

Also: Eric Church is kinda redeeming himself. I heard “Smoke a Little Smoke” twice on the radio this past week and I gotta say, its not that bad.